


since we've no place to go

by freefallng



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Gift Exchange, M/M, Scorbus Secret Santa, Snowball Fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8926183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freefallng/pseuds/freefallng
Summary: Albus heard a frustrated little sigh and before he knew it, the covers were being pulled off of his head as Scorpius climbed up his bed to be eye level with him as he removed the covers from Albus’s face.“Just because there’s snow every year, doesn’t mean it’s ever any less magical,” Scorpius whispered, still completely in awe of the light dust of white that covered the school grounds on the other side of the window. Albus let out a shallow breath, as his eyes met Scorpius’s, whose pale face was now covered with a light blush, which could have been from their close proximity, or from his awe of the snow, Albus couldn’t tell. orthe one where Scorpius is completely enamored with snow, and Albus may or may not be just completely enamored with his best friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiii so I’ve written this fic for the Scorbus Secret Santa on tumblr. If you would like to see the other additions to this secret santa check them out at scorbus-secret-santa.tumblr.com! My recipient is tumblr user @newtscmandr (who's blog you should check out because it's fantastic!) I hope you enjoy this even though it’s honestly just a mess of my feelings about these two! p.s. this is unbeta'd like always lmao, sorry for any mistakes!!

Albus rolled over, tugging his heavy quilt tighter around his shoulders with a small groan. The early morning light that was seeping through the dorm room window seemed to hit him in the face no matter which side of the bed he turned to. With one more turn, Albus ended up laying face up, staring at the top of his four poster bed and sighed heavily. He ran a hand through his messy morning hair in attempt to tame it, but seemed to only make things worse. 

 

Albus sat up slowly, the Slytherin green quilt still wrapped tightly around him, and searched the floor near his bed for the sweater that he had hastily discarded the night before. He slipped the sweater over his head slowly, ruining the state of his unruly hair even more, before slipping fully from beneath the quilt and padding quietly across the dorm floor. Albus silently slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. As he looked into the mirror, Albus let out a little frustrated huff and began attempting, yet again, to fix his hair. After about five minutes of detangling knots, just for more to be formed, Albus abandoned his hair and turned the faucet of the sink on. He splashed himself in the face with a bit of water, in hopes to truly gain some sense of consciousness, before quickly brushing his teeth. When Albus was finished, he left the bathroom and trudged back into his shared dorm and looked at his warm and inviting bed, before his eyes traveled to the bed next to his. 

 

Albus let his eyes wander over the sight of his best friend, who was draped across the bed next to him, still peacefully asleep. Scorpius’s long legs were hanging of the side of the large bed while his head has tucked into the crook of one of his own arms. The corners of Albus’s lips turned up a bit into a small smile before he made his way back to his own bed, and quickly tucked himself back under the sheets, promising that he’d only let himself sleep for twenty more minutes. 

 

\--

 

The next time Albus awoke was by the heavy force of his best friend, who was currently jumping from one foot to the other excitedly on top of Albus’s covers. 

 

“Scorp, what time is it?” Albus asked blearily, peeking his head out from under the covers to stare up at his loud best friend. 

 

“Honestly, Albus, how could you care about the time of day right now? Have you even  _ looked _ outside yet?” Scorpius gushed, his jumping had ceased and he instead chose to sit at the end of Albus’s bed, right on top of Albus’s covered feet. 

 

Albus rolled his eyes, “Scorp, I’ve had the same view of the castle grounds from the Slytherin dungeons for the past six years.”

 

“No, but Albus. There’s  _ snow _ ,” Scorpius breathed quietly. 

 

Albus shook his head fondly, and turned to once again cover himself with his quilt. “There’s snow every year, Scorp,” he muttered from beneath the covers. 

 

Albus heard a frustrated little sigh and before he knew it, the covers were being pulled off of his head as Scorpius climbed up his bed to be eye level with him as he removed the covers from Albus’s face.

 

“Just because there’s snow every year, doesn’t mean it’s ever any less magical,” Scorpius whispered, still completely in awe of the light dust of white that covered the school grounds on the other side of the window. 

 

Albus let out a shallow breath, as his eyes met Scorpius’s, whose pale face was now covered with a light blush, which could have been from their close proximity, or from his awe of the snow, Albus couldn’t tell. 

 

Albus rolled his eyes before playfully pushing Scorpius off from on top of him, forcing Scorpius to lay on his back in the bed beside Albus. “We’re literally wizards, Scorpius.”

 

“Albus it’s Christmas Eve, for Godric’s sake would you please just come see the snow with me?” Scorpius whined, tugging on the sleeve on the sweater that Albus had thrown on earlier. 

 

Albus smiled, and turned to face his friend next to him. “Of course I will, Scorp. It’s not like there’s anything better to do today, like, I don’t know, sleep?” Albus teased lightly, pushing the covers off of himself. 

 

Scorpius beamed up at Albus, and Albus felt his next breath get caught in his chest as he looked down at his best friend, lying in his bed. Scorpius’s hair was messily framing his pale, but sharply constructed face and his smile brought small wrinkles around his eyes and Albus simply couldn’t breathe. It was Albus’s turn to blush, as he looked away from the boy lying on his bed. 

 

“I’m going to get dressed and find my boots,” Albus said quietly, priding himself in the fact that his voice didn’t crack. “I suggest you do the same if you really want me to come see the snow with you.”

 

Scorpius let out a little victorious whoop, and scrambled to his feet and began digging through his trunk at the end of his bed. “I’m really glad we decided to stay in the castle this year for winter hols, I mean we could have went home. But, my dad is visiting grandmother in France and your family is honestly too loud on a normal day, I can’t even begin to imagine them on Christmas...” Scorpius was babbling, and Albus was grinning as he slipped on his boots. 

 

“I’m glad we stayed, too, Scorpius,” Albus said brightly and glanced over to see Scorpius pulling his snow boots from his large trunk. Albus watched as Scorpius pulled the boots over his woolen socks, and then watched as the grey blue eyes of the other boy began scanning the dorm room.

“Have you seen my-” Scorpius started, but abruptly stopped as Albus shoved Scorpius’s coat into his arms. “Oh, thank you.”

 

Albus gave Scorpius a small smile as the other boy began putting the coat Albus just handed him. “Of course,” Albus said quietly, “Oh, here’s your scarf as well.” 

 

Scorpius gratefully took the green Slytherin scarf from Albus’s hands and wrapped hit around his neck. “Alrighty then! Let’s go, we’ve got snow to see!” 

 

Albus shook his head for what seemed like the tenth time just that morning, and followed Scorpius out of the dorm. 

 

\--

 

“Now, wasn’t this worth getting out of bed for?” Scorpius asked as he spun around with his arms outstretched as snow fell lightly around him. 

 

Albus rolled his eyes, “Well, you seem to think so.” 

 

“I do seem to think so,” Scorpius smiled, and ran ahead of Albus towards a line of trees straight ahead. Albus drug himself through the snow after his over excited friend. Scorpius turned to face Albus once again, but this time with a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

 

“Scorpius, whatever you’re thinking of doing-” Albus started but was promptly cut off when his body was struck cold, a small snowball began to fall down his flushed cheeks. 

 

“Hmm, what were you saying, Albus?” Scorpius said, stifling a laugh with the back of his gloved hand. 

 

Albus knelt down and began forming a few snowballs of his own, “Oh Scorp, you are definitely going to pay for that!” 

 

Scorpius shot what seemed to be a dreadful attempt at a wink in Albus’s direction before he scurried farther down the path. Albus watched as his friend disappeared into the tree line, most likely taking cover while he planned his battle strategy. Albus knelt down on the ground again and began making as many snowballs as he could. Albus shook his head slightly, he wasn’t quite surprised that Scorpius seemed to be planning his next attack. Albus hastily finished up his fifteenth snowball and patiently waited for his best friend to emerge from behind the trees. 

 

Albus heard Scorpius before he saw him; Scorpius sprung out from behind the trees, weaving himself intricately through the tree line as he launched snowballs across the path at his friend. Albus laughed breathlessly as he was pelted with snowballs, and leaned down to grab a few of his own. Scorpius must have already hit Albus with twice as many snowballs as Albus had even made, but that was okay. Albus already knew coming into this fight that he was going to lose; he may have even lost on purpose if he could see the smug and beautiful grin that was pasted across Scorpius’s pale pink lips.

 

Albus was out of snowballs before he even knew that he had thrown any, and he looked wearily at his best friend who was approaching smugly, one final snowball in hand. So, Albus did the only logical thing that was left to do: he grabbed Scorpius’s arm that was holding the very last snowball and pushed the blonde and himself down to the ground. Scorpius let out a teeny gasp, and the last snowball fell from his gloved fingers. Albus was smiling and heaving, he kept Scorpius pinned to the ground with one hand, and used his spare hand to brush his own hair out of his face. 

 

“Gotcha,” Albus said between breaths, and then he looked down and oh my, had Scorpius’s eyes always been this unbelievably stunning? Albus couldn’t breathe, because Scorpius was pouting and currently had his lower lip tucked under his teeth and  _ gosh _ did Albus want to lean down and kiss away his pout-

 

“Honestly, that was completely unfair and definitely uncalled for,” Scorpius exclaimed, eyes twinkling as he pushed Albus off of him and into the snow next to him.  “You’re such a sore loser, Albus.” 

 

Albus laughed brightly as his cheeks grew red, and it was definitely from the cold, or at least that’s what he was telling himself. “You’re right, Scorp, I truly am a sore loser. Can we go inside and get warmed up now? I can’t feel my toes.” 

 

Scorpius rolled his eyes and pulled himself and his friend up from the snow, and they made their way back to the castle, giggling and pushing each other playfully the whole way. 

 

\--

 

Albus practically jumped up the stairs from his dorm to the common room, a small, neatly wrapped gift in one hand, and a lumpy larger gift in the other. Albus entered the common room, which was contently quiet and almost vacant, except for Scorpius, who sat in the arm chair nearest the fire, with a book in his hand. The corner’s of Albus's mouth lifted into a small smile for what seemed like the millionth time today. 

 

Albus plopped down on the carpet in front of Scorpius’s chair and the fire place. He looked up at Scorpius, who still seemed to be lost within the pages of the book that he had cracked open. Albus smiled as he watched Scorpius’s eyes scan the pages quickly, his eyes were moving so fast, they seemed to be racing to the end of each sentence. 

 

Albus let out a small cough, not daring to make a louder noise; he couldn’t bear accidentally startling Scorpius from his reading.

 

“One second, Al,” Scorpius said, grabbing his bookmark from the end table next to him; his eyes were still racing across the page. “I’ve just got one more page left of this chapter.” 

 

Albus stared at the way Scorpius poked the tip of his tongue out as he concentrated on the last few phrases in his chapter. Scorpius slipped his bookmark between the pages and set the book down lightly on the end table, and beamed down at Albus from atop the comfortable reclining chair that he was currently sitting in. 

 

“Did you bring me presents?” Scorpius asked eagerly as he climbed down from the chair he was sitting in, to sit next to Albus on the floor. 

 

“Well, it is Christmas, after all,” Albus replied shyly, picking up the large and lumpy gift from the floor beside him and handed it to Scorpius. 

 

Scorpius began to pull away the twine that had been wrapped in a bow around the wrapping paper hastily. Albus couldn’t help but chuckle at how excited his friend was; Scorpius always found joy in even the simplest of things. Beneath the twine and lumpy wrapping paper, Scorpius pulled out a soft, royal blue sweater. Scorpius turned the blue sweater around, and discovered a light gray ‘S’ stitched across the front. 

 

“You grandmother knitted this for me, didn’t she?” Scorpius said quietly, with what Albus could have sworn was an eye full of tears. 

 

“I, um, yeah. I was writing with her last week and she mentioned making one, said you’re basically family at this point. I couldn’t argue with her on that one,” Albus said, pulling at the sleeves on his own, Slytherin green Weasley sweater. 

 

Scorpius seemed to be honestly lost for words, and all he could do was push aside the wrapping paper from the gift and slip the sweater on over his head. “Albus, I... you’ll let her know that I love it, won’t you? Tell her how incredibly thankful I am, as well.” 

 

Albus beamed, wishing he could reach up and wipe each of the stray tears that had begun to track Scorpius's cheeks away. “Of course I’ll let her know,” Albus promised. He then picked up the last parcel next to him, and extended it out towards Scorpius to grab. “This is my present for you. Merry Christmas, Scorp.” 

 

Scorpius took the second gift and began peeling away the wrapping paper again, but slowly this time, as if to save the paper (or maybe the moment). Pulling away the paper revealed a black, leather bound book with the letters “S.M.” engraved in the front in twisting gold letters. Scorpius flipped through the first few pages, and found them empty and looked down at Albus with a hint of confusion in his eyes. 

 

“So, I... um, I found this place in Muggle London when I went on a trip with my dad, it had tons of amazing books, but I stumbled upon these leather bound notebooks and I couldn’t help but think of you? They reminded me of the notebooks you use to take all of your notes in and at first, I thought why not get you another one. You sure as hell take enough notes for it. I bought this and I later had it engraved with your initials and then I was just going to buy you a few other little things so I wasn’t just getting you school supplies for Christmas,” Albus paused to take a deep breath, he knew he was babbling, but he frankly couldn’t stop. “One day I was browsing to see if I could find anything else to add to your gift, and I found myself in yet again another book shop. This time a poetry book grabbed my attention and I just opened it to a random page and began reading it.”

 

“The very first poem on the page that I had randomly opened to was about bravery in hidden ways and I couldn’t help but think of you, so I got out this notebook that I got you, and I opened to a random page inside of it and scrawled the poem down. After that it was sort of an endless spiral. Every time I read something that made me think of you, I opened this journal and I wrote it down. And it’s genuinely such a mess, but it got to the point where it was too close to Christmas to get you anything else and-”

 

Albus was interrupted by a pair of warm lips crashing against his own and he felt  _ warmsafewhole _ . He returned the kiss wholeheartedly, kissing the other boy as if time itself would stop if their lips were to part. Soon, he felt tears, which were not his own, brushing against his cheeks. He pulled away slowly, looking up into the watery grey eyes of his best friend and he was breathless. This boy was beautiful and crying and he had just  _ kissed  _ him. 

 

“Was the kiss that awful? I’m sorry I made you cry, I’ll practice so it’s better next time, but you did really surprise me I didn’t quite think that was going to-”

 

“Do I need to kiss you again, Albus?” Scorpius interrupted with a slight eye roll. 

 

“Well yes, you definitely do need to kiss me again, but not this minute. I’ll shut up,” Albus teased, extending a hand to brush away the tear tracks on Scorpius’s cheeks. 

 

“I’m not crying because you’re an awful kisser, you’re actually quite good at that,” Albus smiled triumphantly and Scorpius rolled his eyes, yet again. “I’m crying because this is definitely the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received, and I think I’m quite in love with you,” Scorpius's cheeks immediately began to redden as he began to comprehend the extent of his words. 

 

“Oh good,” Albus said in a seemingly nonchalant fashion, when in reality his stomach was in knots and he couldn’t think straight. “You being quite in love with me will make you reading the 100+ love poems I copied into that book so much less awkward now.” 

 

“I take that back, I genuinely hate you and I can’t believe you’re going to force me to read hundreds of love poems,” Scorpius teased lightly, as he lifted a hand towards Albus’s face to push a stray strand of his unruly black hair away from his green eyes. 

 

“Nope, you can’t take it back now. Plus, you love reading, and coincidentally, you also love me. There’s no way you’ll hate any of those poems,” Albus said. 

 

“You’re right,” Scorpius breathed lightly, his cool breath hit Albus in the face, and almost stung as much as the snowball he had been hit with earlier. When had their bodies gotten this close again? Albus’s heart was racing and the next thing he knew his eyes were closing slowly, and he was pulling his best friend into another kiss. 

 

When the two boys finally pulled away, Albus left his forehead resting lightly on Scorpius’s and he just breathed him in. Suddenly, Scorpius was pulling away and Albus’s heart was dropping to his stomach. 

 

“I need to go get your present!” Scorpius exclaimed, turning to get up and go down to their dorm room. 

 

“No,” Albus whined, grabbing Scorpius's wrist and pulling him onto the carpet next to him. “You can go get the present later, right now you’re going to cuddle me right here on the floor next to the fire.” 

 

Scorpius let out a small giggle, but obliged and joined Albus back on the floor. Albus wrapped his arms around the other boy and pulled him tighter into his embrace. “Merry Christmas, Scorp,” Albus muttered into the other boy’s hair before placing a chaste kiss upon his head. 

 

“Merry Christmas,” Scorpius muttered contently, as the warm fire of the Slytherin common room crackled behind them, and all Albus could think was that he was finally  _ home _ .  
  



End file.
